Yesterday, we posted part one of an interview of lobbyist Mary Patricia Wray. In that segment, she talked about the difficulties legislators are having this session. They are overworked and underpaid. They are stressed and combative. In fact, things are so bad that according to other sources, the legislators might not pass a budget until after the fiscal year begins. For Louisiana, that would be an extraordinary non-accomplishment, never been done. But, this is the Louisiana legislature, one year from elections.

The Louisiana Legislature just completed a “do nothing” session that proved to be a stalemate towards solving the state’s financial crisis.  A new regular session has begun with few signs that anything substantive will come about.  By law, no new tax matters can be considered in this even numbered year. So what’s the problem in getting some cooperative effort?